Video story-Newkirk Cemetery Project
It’s something that Jeffrey Scott has kept in his mind since he was about 10 years old. After hearing stories from his father about a cemetery that once was at the 5 corners, Bank Street Road, Batavia Elba Townline Road, Batavia Stafford Townline Road and Norton Road, Scott decided to unearth the idea of finding the cemetery during the pandemic and started researching.
The last time a known grave marker stood at the cemetery was 1952. Since then, a portion of the hill has been taken down when the County made way for the roadway, and a house was built on the property in 1960. At this time, Scott believes there are four people buried in the long-forgotten Newkirk Cemetery.
William C. McCrillus, who was born in 1776 and died April 6, 1817. Eleanor (McCrillus) Wilcox, born February 18, 1768 and died October 6, 1834. Deacon George Mills, who was born January 27, 1753 and died March 2, 1822. He was the town of Elba assessor, and he organized the first church meeting at the First Baptist Church of Elba. Also buried there is Sarah Bell Mills, the wife of Deacon George Mills. Sarah was born April 17, 1785 and died March 1814.
After 18 months of research, Scott gathered all his hard work together and put it into a booklet called, “The Newkirk Cemetery Restoration Project”. Last summer he pitched the idea of creating a site map and to look into the topology of the site to five different Buffalo and Rochester Colleges. The RIT Department of Sociology and Anthropology accepted the challenge to help locate the graves of four people and map the long-forgotten Newkirk Cemetery. Work started last August, with a push from a student of Dr. William Middleton, Justin Man, who was looking for a hands-on project to complete his final project. Man is a Computer & Information Technology and Archeology student.
Dr. Middleton, a Professor in the Anthropology Department, along with Man and few other RIT students gathered at the Newkirk site last fall and completed a basic electronic grid map of the cemetery using a laser theodolite. They also started doing ground scrapes in 1-meter square increments. The goal is to dig down below the surface fill to the original 19th century ground surface to identify different textures /compositions that indicate soil disturbances.
Last Wednesday, Scott, Dr. Middleton and Man gathered at the Newkirk site for the first time this year. They are planning to be there again today and into the summer and fall months.
If anyone is interested in joining them to assist with digging and ground scrapes, contact Jeffrey Scott at newkirkcemetery5corners@gmail.com